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Welcome to the world of plants in questions & answers! Feel free to ask anything about herbs, flowers, trees, fruits, vegetables, bushes, mushrooms, and more.
Join our community of Nature lovers and healthy life!

Please help to find the name of this shrub

I hope someone will help me with the bush identification. Please, see the photo below. The shrub has nice purple, a little bit pinkish flowers and leaves which remind me leaves of the Lilac bush. Maybe this is a Lilac? Thank in advance for helping me to recognize this plant. PS I saw it in France.

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Yes, this is Leycesteria formosa, also known as Himalayan honeysuckle, flowering nutmeg, Himalaya nutmeg or pheasant berry. It is a shrub in the family Caprifoliaceae. Himalayan honeysuckle is native to the Himalaya and southwestern China. It is considered a noxious invasive species in Australia, New Zealand, the neighboring islands of Micronesia, and some other places.

Pheasant berry purple-black berries are edible and said to taste like toffee or caramel. Leycesteria formosa is also an amazing cut flower. The plant is best used as a specimen shrub towards the back of a sunny border. Good deer resistance. The flowers are attractive to hummingbirds.

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To me Himalayan honeysuckleberries taste a bit like burnt sugar. I think the flavour is sweeter on sunny days.

Pheasantberries are not well known as edible berries and they are not so easy to pick. You have to let them turn brown before they are palatable. Even when perfectly ripe they are incredibly squishy and juicy and pop right out of their skins. If you leave them too long on the plant they practically liquify and become little more than brown juice in a bag which splatters over your fingers.